Guitarist, producer, and songwriter Steve Cropper, who shaped the sound of Memphis soul as a member of the Stax Records house band Booker T. & the M.G.’s, has died. The Associated Press reports. Soulsville Foundation president and CEO Pat Mitchell Worley told the AP that Cropper’s family confirmed the news to her, but did not share a cause of death. He was 84.
Cropper was an original member of the Stax Records house band Booker T. & the M.G.’s, alongside organist Booker T. Jones, bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn, and drummer Al Jackson Jr. His guitar can be heard on recordings by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and Carla and Rufus Thomas. In addition to backing up other artists, Booker T. and the M.G.’s released instrumental records under their own name—the best known of which is 1962’s “Green Onions.” They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
Cropper was born in Missouri and raised in Memphis, where he first picked up a guitar at the age of 14. In high school, he played in a band called the Royal Spades, who were signed to Stax Records when it was still called Satellite Records. Changing their name to the Mar-Keys, the outfit became the fledgling label’s first house band. They landed a hit single in 1961 with “Last Night.”
The following year, Cropper was appointed as Stax’s A&R director, and became a founding member of Booker T. and the M.G.’s. After a planned recording session went awry, Cropper, Jones, Jackson Jr., and bassist Lewie Steinberg cut “Green Onions,” which would go on to hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Besides playing guitar on tracks by Stax Records artists, Cropper co-wrote several songs including Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood,” and Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour.” He’s mentioned by name in Sam & Dave’s 1967 song “Soul Man,” when Sam Moore ad-libs, “Play it, Steve!”
After releasing his debut solo album With a Little Help from My Friends in 1969, Cropper left Stax the following year. He then founded Trans-Maximus (TMI) Studios in Memphis, going on to produce albums for John Prine and Tower of Power and play guitar for Ringo Starr and Rod Stewart. In the late ’70s, Cropper began to feature prominently in John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd’s Blues Brothers Band, leading to appearances on five albums and in two movies. He later reunited with the Booker T. and the M.G.’s for various performances. Cropper’s last solo record, Friendlytown, arrived last year.
